Breadman ultimate....power but blank screen

(N.B. I think there may be two variants of the Ultimate Plus, TR2500BC. They can be
distinguished by the number of rivets in the pan, 3 or 4. Mine has 3.)

I had a similar problem. Holding down the Reset button and plugging
or unplugging the machine didn't work for me. (Note: I've been
pretty careful to hold the Reset button when I unplug the machine
after baking a loaf.) This procedure worked for me:

1. Unplug the machine.
2. Remove the plastic keypad housing. There are three screws: left,
right, rear. (Note: One has a different thread from the others.)
3. Rock the housing back and forth to remove it.
4. Remove the white protective cover. It has two screws.
5. (You *did* unplug the machine, didn't you?)
6. Identify the ribbon cable and locate where its connector seats on
the circuit board.
7. The circuit board has little printed labels opposite each pin.
At one end are the labels GND, VCC, VDD, in order.
8. Short together GND and VCC with a small piece of wire by sticking
the ends of the wire into the top of the connector to touch the contacts.
9. Do the same with GND and VDD.
10. The machine should work now. With the keypad housing, circuit
board, and cables safely away from the metal body, plug the machine in.
You should hear a beep, and all should be well.
11. Rejoice, be glad, and make some bread.

Don't try this unless you know what you're doing. But, if all else fails, give it a shot. I have a TR2500BC next model version up with the same problem. I tried the fixya solutions for my model, but none of them worked. Since I still had power to the light when I opened the lid, I assumed it was a problem with the keypad microprocessor. With the breadmaker plugged in, remove the ribbon cable connector connected to the PCB board. This will short the pins leading to the keypad. You might have to touch the connector to the pins on the circuit board a few times to make the microprocessor go "wacko" and reset itself. Once you hear the beep, the display should be working. If the convection fan or motor starts running while trying to get the display to work again just hit the reset on the keypad and choose any cycle and hit the start button. It may take 30 seconds or so for the machine to reset itself to normal operation. If anyone knows which pins to short out, I can solder in a reset button, so if this ever happens again I won't have to open the control panel. Or maybe the keypad needs to be properly grounded.

The microprocessor in the keypad probably needs to be reset. With the unit unplugged, remove the keypad housing (one screw in back, one on the left side, rock it up enough to get a small screwdriver inside, then push back the soft plastic fingers to release the housing -- force it a bit, you won't break it). You do not need to remove the bottom cover.

Remove the keypad cover (4 screws) and the PC board (one screw). You'll see a factory reset button near the middle of the left side. Press and hold that for a couple of seconds.

If you want to test the unit before re-assembly, hold the PC board so it doesn't short against anything (there's nothing more than 5v on the board, so you won't get shocked), and plug the unit in. The display should appear. Unplug the unit, re-assemble, and then bake some bread!

There is also the possibility that the backup battery on this PC board is bad. Check it with a voltmeter -- it should be about 5v.

No reset button other than the one accessible from the top with keypad in place, and no easy access to the circuit board to short the pins. However, disconnecting, then reconnecting the keypad (three cables - the ribbon and two others) fixed the problem. Thanks to this board my problem is solved.

Hold down the start button then switch power on.

Try other buttons for different models if no joy.

It reset OK for me

I have had this problem and finally came across a representative from the manufacturer who knew what she was talking about. The problem I had was that when I was finished with a loaf of bread, and turned it to "off", I didn't hold down the off button long enough so, what happens is that the machine will continue in that mode of operation you were in previously to the end of the cycle. It has something to do with the inner workings of the memory. For instance, if you shut it off right at the end of the cycle, there is usually a warming cycle etc. that it goes into, and if you don't hold down the off button for several minutes, the machine doesn't know it's at the total end of the cycle yet. So you actually should wait for another 20 minutes or + before trying to start it again. Does that make sense. Anyway, it worked for me. Good luck. MB from Michigan

Geez, I thought the OP asked about the TR 2200C, not the 2500 plus. So I went to all the trouble taking apart to find there are no ribbon cable markings :(

I had this exact same problem. The display panel was blank, but the light would turn on when the machine is opened. Holding down the Start button or the Reset button had no effect. Before opening the machine to fiddle with the electronics, try this: Per the instruction manual, there is a backup battery that will maintain the bread machine's memory for 7 minutes in case the power shuts off. So try unplugging the machine for 7 minutes (actually I waited 10 minutes to be sure), and then plug it back in. I got the power on beep, and the machine powered up normally.

What worked was plugging in the machine with the ribbon cable unplugged. Got the beep right away.

I had the exact same problem with my bread maker. It had the initial beep on startup, but no display and the buttons did not work. After taking the machine apart I tested the vdd and vcc voltages with a multimeter and noticed that the vcc was low around 1.3V. It should have been close to 5V, just as Vdd. I traced the issue to a faulty diode D14 on this board. I replaced it with a 1N4001 and the machine came back to life!
Be careful if you attempt this fix, and unplug the machine because the AC mains is directly connected to this board where the relays are.
Ps. BTW there is no battery in the machine. Those black and silver round things are capacitors.

MIne was dead new out of the box. I ended up running a dental pic along the solder joints of the two microprocessor chips and it worked. Must have been bad soldering.

My solutions are posted here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/66216795/Diagnosing-Power-Up-Start-Up-Issues-on-Automatic-Breadmakers

I had the same problem - light in the oven portion came on, but display was blank. I followed the instructions given by Dave Kristol, which worked perfectly, thanks, Dave!

The one thing I would like to add, and this is for the sake of people who are willing to try to fix things like this but don't understand anything about electronics or circuitry (like me): For Dave's steps 8. and 9., he means that you should *temporarily* short the connectors - do not leave them connected! The point is only to "reset" the circuit board with the power off. I nearly (permanently) shorted out my poor breadmachine, but thankfully I had my electrically adept husband inspect my handiwork before plugging the machine back in. (His reaction: "Uhhh, I don't think you want to leave those connected...")

I have the big silver breadman ultimate +. My wife made a loaf today and when she tried a 2nd loaf tonight it would not beep when plugged in. The light would work when the lid was lifted. I took it apart but no reset buttons. The power on the 1st power circuit bd comes from the transformer on 2 brown wires and 1 white one on a heavy connector on the corner of the bd. The outside solder connector had a cold solder and I resoldered it and wa la it beeped and is now making bread. I could see the cold solder because there was a ring in the solder surrounding the peg and the other pegs had a smooth shinny solder flow around the peg. REMEMBER TO ALWAYS UNPLUG MACHINE!

This fix worked fine.